News

Democrats move protest away from Cotham’s neighborhood after pressure

On Friday, the North Carolina Democratic Party moved the location for a protest against Rep. Tricia Cotham, who recently decided to leave the Democratic Party, after receiving backlash for holding the demonstration within 2.5 miles of Cotham's house.

Alex Baltzegar
News

Following Michigan’s union push, North Carolina takes different approach

On Wednesday, Republican legislative leaders filed a bill that would ensure North Carolinians are not coerced into joining labor unions. A “right-to-work” state law is already in place, but this bill would allow voters to decide whether to adopt it into the North Carolina Constitution. North Carolina has been a “right-to-work” state, meaning workers cannot...

Alex Baltzegar
News

National tax lawyers group urges US Supreme Court to take NC sales tax case

A national group of tax lawyers wants the U.S. Supreme Court to take a case from North Carolina dealing with sales taxes on out-of-state transactions. The case stems from a Wisconsin-based company's fight against a sales tax assessment from N.C. revenue officials.

CJ Staff
Video

The Debrief: Riots, Vandalism, and Jeff Jackson’s TikTok

This week on “The Debrief”: Riots, Vandalism, and Jeff Jackson’s TikTok *Freshman Representative Jeff Jackson (NC) is finding himself under scrutiny with his questionable use of TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance *New anti-riot law has some activists up in arms *Conspiracy theories about the Democrat-turned-Republican state legislator Tricia Cotham are being fueled by a...

News

NC Appeals Court sets May 9 for bar owners’ case against Cooper’s COVID shutdown

The N.C. Court of Appeals will consider next month a case involving bar owners’ challenge against Gov. Roy Cooper’s COVID-19 shutdown orders. Chief Judge Donna Stroud and Judges April Wood and Jefferson Griffin, all Republicans, are scheduled to consider the case on May 9.

CJ Staff

Opinion

Elections

News

Trump nominates Bishop to be deputy director for budget at OMB

"Dan has been a tireless fighter for our MAGA Movement in the House of Representatives on the Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees," Trump said in a press release issued Tuesday night. "Dan will implement my cost-cutting and deregulatory agenda across all Agencies, and root out the Weaponized Deep State."

Theresa Opeka
News

Democrats want federal court to address GOP challenge of 60,000 NC ballots

The North Carolina Democratic Party filed a lawsuit Friday to ensure challenges of 60,000 ballots in the state's latest election are addressed in federal court. Republicans filed the challenges with the State Board of Elections. The challenges could affect the outcome of the state Supreme Court race between Democrat Allison Riggs and Jefferson Griffin, along with a handful of state legislative contests.

CJ Staff
News

Griffin asks Appeals Court to order decision on election protests by Tuesday

Republican North Carolina Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin is turning to North Carolina’s second-highest court for an order that would force state election officials to make a final decision about Griffin’s election protests Tuesday. The State Board of Elections had planned to hear oral arguments about the protests the following day, according to a document Griffin filed Friday with the state Court of Appeals.

CJ Staff

Videos

Video

Locke’s Mitch Kokai analyzes Berger’s election concession

Mitch Kokai, John Locke Foundation senior political analyst, discusses Sen. Phil Berger’s concession in his primary election loss to Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page. Kokai offered these comments during the March 27, 2026, edition of PBS North Carolina’s “State Lines.”

Mitch Kokai
Video

Cooper, King analyze recent polling in NC’s US Senate race

Political scientist Chris Cooper of Western Carolina University and Carolina Journal Editor-in-Chief Donna King discuss recent polls in North Carolina’s 2026 US Senate race. Cooper and King offered these comments during the Jan. 23, 2026, edition of PBS North Carolina’s “State Lines.”

Donna King

Culture

Civil Society

Opinion

For healthy civil society, politics needs to stay in its lane

Political and cultural causes are important. They motivate us to make the world around us better and hone our sense of justice. Also, the excitement of fighting the good fight can be, for lack of a better word, fun. But everything has its time and place. And even if we think a particular political issue...

David Larson
Opinion

Flashback: North Carolina’s Easter Monday tradition forged on the baseball diamond

On Good Friday state offices will be closed in North Carolina for Holy Week, along with 10 other states. However, that has not always been the case in North Carolina. The Monday after Easter — rather than Good Friday — was a legal holiday in North Carolina for 52 years, and for many years before...

Dallas Woodhouse